I Bet You
by TheEmberRaven
Summary: For losing a bet, Kurt has take Kitty shopping without his image inducer. There's only one problem with that—Kurt's terrified of being seen in his normal form. Rated T for a little language.
1. Chapter 1

**I Bet You**

**Summary:** For losing a bet, Kurt has take a walk around downtown Bayville without his image inducer. There's only one problem with that—Kurt's terrified of being around so many people.

This is my first FanFiction, so go easy on me. Please R&R.

**Note: I don't own X-men Evolution. Wish I did, though.**

**Chapter 1:**

Logan stood proudly in front of the Danger Room controls, a smug grin across his usually expressionless face. The waiting X-men down below took that as a bad omen.

"Ok kids," Wolverine's rough voice boomed over the intercom, "here's the drill. Avoid the obstacles, and don't help your buddies. This is last man"—several X-girls gave him a cold stare—"er, or woman standing wins. You guys think you can handle that?"

Several students scoffed and pishawed from the group below. "I thought so," Logan muttered, grinning wider. And he started up the program.

It was much harder than the students anticipated. Logan had riddled the training program with trapdoors, falling objects, walls that would pop out of the ground, etc, in addition to the usual stuff. Very quickly, Rouge, Bobby, and several other students found themselves "out" and they sat quietly in a row along the far wall, watching their teammates get pounded. "That program is way too hard," Bobby sulked.

Rouge snorted. "At least yah had your powers tah help yah along, Jack Frost," she mumbled.

Back on the playing field, only two students remained—Kurt and Kitty. Kitty was only surviving because she could phase through everything. She was getting hit left and right, but everything passed clean through her body. Kurt, agile and quick, avoided everything and was faring far better. He was actually destroying as much of the equipment as he could, while Kitty was stumbling around, barely avoiding being squished into a pancake. Along the sidelines, people were taking bets about who would win. Most people were betting Kurt. To be nice, Rouge put her money on Kitty, though it looked like she would be out for the count very soon.

A giant swinging pendulum barely missed Kurt. He cart wheeled out of the way. _This is ridiculous_, he thought. He jumped up onto a raised platform to get a breather. Kitty was running away from a huge metal ball that seemed to be following her wherever she went. Kurt heard something swish above him. He back flipped away from the falling object, landing gracefully on the floor far below. As he prepared himself to jump away from something else, a whistle blew, and Logan called out, "Stop!"

Kurt looked over to Kitty, who was crawling out from under a pile of machine carnage. "Kurt wins," Logan said. "Everybody's dismissed."

Kurt stalked over to where the rest of the team was filing out of the room. He grabbed his bottle of water and was about to leave when he noticed Kitty talking to Rouge. She looked upset. Kurt sighed and walked over to them.

"Vas?" he asked, noting the sour look Kitty gave him when she saw him coming.

"Nothin," Rouge said. "Kitty's just upset cause she lost."

"It's not that," Kitty sighed. "I can totally take losing, but Logan makes these programs too hard. They're impossible."

Kurt shrugged. "They're not too bad, but if you vant to complain, take it up with Herr Logan, not your friends."

"They're not too bad," Kitty mocked. "Easy for you to say, Mr. Flexible. Your powers make it too easy for you. Try doing a session without your 'porting and then say it again."

Kurt's ears perked up at the challenge. "Fine," he said. "Vhat if I do zis program again, no powers? If I beat it, will you believe that Logan's programs aren't too bad?"

Kitty gave him a long, suspicious look. "Sure," she said, "but if you lose, you have to take me downtown for some shopping."

"Deal."

"No image inducer," Kitty added, suddenly liking the deal very much.

"Vas?" Kurt's golden eyes got very, very wide and his ears drooped. He shook off the surprise and put up his hands in defense. "No vay, Keety. No vay."

Kitty smirked. "Oh, but you already agreed to it. If the training program isn't 'too bad' then you can do it, powers or no. You gonna back out?"

Kurt's pride won over for a second. "Nein," he muttered in defeat. Rouge patted him on the back.

"Yah can do it, Crawler."

"Yeah," Kurt sighed_. I'm gonna die_, he thought.

**Not bad? I'll update soon, I promise. Please review. I don't mind the flames.**

**-The Ember Raven**


	2. Chapter 2

**I Bet You**

**Very quickly: **Yes, dedicated fans (I know you're out there), I'm back with a second chapter. Mwwahahaha. Oh, and danke Sidney for the comment. I feel the love. Read on!

**Chapter 2: **

"You ready, elf?" Logan barked. He pulled a chair up to the control panel and got comfortable. Logan loved nothing more than watching a student get a good pounding. Rouge was hovering nearby, feigning a lack of interest, but she kept looking down on the Danger Room nervously. Unlike Logan, she didn't like seeing people get thrown around. But Kurt was her brother, so she was staying to watch the carnage.

Kurt, standing in the middle of the open space below, sighed and said, "Ja. I'm ready."

Kitty was right up next to Logan, quivering with anticipation. As much as she liked Kurt, she wanted him to lose. She needed to get out for a shopping trip. Besides, it would be something to boast about—she didn't win bets very often.

Logan started up the controls. "Oh yeah," he muttered. Kitty gave him a funny look. Sometimes, Logan seemed to like his job a little too much.

The Danger Room quickly transformed into a shifting, complicated maze of metal. Kurt tried to remember exactly how the program had worked last time—where the falling objects were, when the trapdoors opened, etc…Some things still took him by surprise. He jumped and flip-flopped around, forcing himself not to teleport even when he felt the urge. It was harder this way. He couldn't escape as easily. A tentacle snaked out from behind a wall and reached for his leg. He jumped, barely missing it. The overwhelming desire to use his powers resurfaced, but he fought it down. He was doing pretty well, overall.

Until a trapdoor opened beneath his feet.

Kurt felt the ground lurch, but realized what was happening a second too late. He couldn't jump to safety, and out of fear, he teleported to safer ground.

"Stop!" Logan yelled. Kurt picked himself up off the ground. His head hung slightly with embarrassment. "Ok, elf. Looks like you have to go through with your end of the bet."

Kurt didn't want to look up and see Kitty's face, which was extremely smug, by the way. He shuffled out of the room quietly, mentally kicking himself all the way. _Stupid, stupid_, he thought. _Why did I agree to do that? I can't take Kitty out. Not looking like…myself._

He hung his head further at the thought.

"Hey Fuzzy," a familiar voice called. Kurt wished he were invisible. The shame…

"Vhat, Katzchen? Are you happy? You von."

Kitty bounced up beside him and tugged at his arm. "Cheer up, Fuzzy. It's not like it's too bad. All you have to do is take me out for a bit. Right? Right?"

Kurt couldn't stay upset when Kitty was so happy. She was infectious like that. He cracked a smile. "Jah, whatever. So do want to do out, like, all day, or somezing?"

Kitty raised a delicate eyebrow. "You'd be willing to spend that much time with me? In the mall?" she asked, flattered.

"Um, I guess zo. But I'd razzer not. It's just that you girls spend so much time shopping…" He sighed. "Vhat I mean is no. Not all day. Just a few hours, ok?"

"Fine," Kitty sulked, feeling slightly disappointed. Not many guys offered to spend all day with her at the mall. "Well then you'd better change into, like, normal clothes."

"Now?"

"Now."

{time passes} I couldn't make a big line/divider thingy to indicate time passing. Very frusturating.

Kurt took a shower and threw on a black long-sleeved shirt and cargo pants. He looked at himself once in the mirror and groaned. "I look terrible. I can't go out like zis. All those people would…."

He sat down on the edge of his bed. _Oh man_, he thought. Malls were very big, and busy. Full of lots of people. Lots of judgmental, cruel people. Kurt panicked, then. Old memories came back to him. Angry mobs, weapons, fire. He cringed at the thoughts. _I can't do this, _his mind screamed.

He looked around the room and his eyes fell on his watch—his image inducer. It was freedom. Only with it on could he mingle with humans freely. Without it, he was a freak again. A de….He couldn't think the word. That awful word.

_I'll have to tell Kitty I can't do it_, he resolved once he'd collected his thoughts. _Nein_, another part of his mind said. _She'd think you're afraid._

"Vell I am," Kurt muttered, realizing he was having a conversation with himself. _Isn't that like a sign of insanity?_ He mused.

"You're what, Kurt?" Kitty's voice came from nearby. Kurt jumped.

"Kitty! I—didn't see you there. How long have you been standing there?" he asked. His heartbeat ticked down a few notches as the surprise wore off.

Kitty was standing half-in, half-out of the Kurt's door, a funny expression on her face. "Like, a second or two," she said, chuckling at Kurt's surprised face. "What were you talking about before?"

"Nothing. Are you ready?" he asked.

"Totally! Come on, you fuzzy elf." Kurt hesitated. He really, really didn't want to go. But Kitty seemed very excited, and if he refused to go, he'd hurt her. Definitely couldn't do that. _Come on, Wagner_. He looked up at Kitty's sweet face. She was smiling so nicely. He couldn't refuse someone like her. He swallowed down all of his fears and stood up.

"Alvight," he muttered. "Let's get this over vith."

**Chapter 2. Finished. I'm not really sure how to finish this story, so any suggestions would be cool. Thank you my followers. My minions. Just kidding.**

**-The Ember Raven**


	3. Chapter 3

**I Bet You**

**Note: Woohoo third chappie. I'm on a roll. BTW, I want to clear up something someone said in their review which is why would Kitty drag Kurt along even though he didn't want to go? C'mon, how many girls drag their unwilling boyfriends (or in this case just good friend) along with them to the mall? A bunch. Also, why did Kitty say no powers when she got to use hers? Well, maybe I didn't explain this very well in the story but Kitty was upset because she felt like the Danger Room thing was too hard for _normal_ mutants, meaning she thought Kurt's teleporting gave him an unfair advantage over the other mutants. He doesn't have to work to avoid anything—he just 'ports around. There, I hope that clears things up.**

**Now, thank you very much Sidney, Zewy, and CSD for the reviews. Oh, and Sidney kind of gave me an idea on how to finish this story up, so some credit is due there. Thank you again, guys. Read on!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own friggin X-men Evolution already. Do I have to do this for every story?**

**Chapter 3: **

oOo

"Keety, are you sure about"—

Kurt was cut off my Kitty, who put a finger over his lips. "Relax, Kurt. It's totally, like, fine. I swear. You need to get out more often, fuzzy."

The two were standing outside the Bayville shopping mall. When Kitty looked up at the towering building, she saw glittering windows filled with shiny clothes and shoes. When Kurt looked up, he saw a dark shadow of doom, and the doors in front of him were a gaping maw.

Kitty took Kurt by the hand and led him inside. On the walk to the mall, they'd gotten plenty of curious looks and a few double-takes, but nothing serious. Kitty was long used to it. Kurt, on the other hand, was fidgeting like a frightened child. Well, he was a frightened child.

Inside, there were lots of people, but it wasn't as bad as Kurt imagined. A few strange glances passed by them. Some people whispered. Nothing Kurt couldn't handle. He fought down his paranoid feelings and tried to relax. Kitty seemed happy enough. She was inspecting the directory and planning a shopping route.

"Ah! We're totally going to Aeropostale. Right now," Kitty exclaimed. He grabbed Kurt's hand with a death grip. "C'mon, you fuzzy elf."

Kurt followed along. It wasn't really like he had a choice—Kitty was surprisingly strong and managed to drag him along quite easily.

Kitty checked out everything. Aeropostale and bunch of stores similar to it, Victoria's Secret—Kurt had politely asked to wait outside for that one—and a few other clothing stores whose names he'd forgotten. Kitty was still getting warmed up. Kurt couldn't believe the attention span she possessed when it came to shopping. He was dead bored, but thankfully Kitty had let him go get ice cream and had waited while he poked around in a video game store for a minute.

"Oh, Kurt, I wanna go in there," Kitty begged, tugging at his arm. Kurt shrugged. The store was fluffy and full of pink things.

"Ja. I'm gonna sit out here, ok? I zink I might die from ze pink overload in there."

Kitty giggled a little. "Alright. I'll be back in a minute." She dashed off excitedly.

Kurt sighed. Yeah, a 'minute' really meant half an hour, he'd discovered. He wandered around a bit. This could take a while.

Inside, Kitty pawed through racks of clothes, looking for anything cute. She was having a great time. Kurt had bugged her at first by complaining that people were giving them weird looks, but he'd shut up after a few minutes. Overall, he was a pretty good shopping buddy. He had more stamina than Rouge or Amara did. She couldn't believe he wasn't dead bored. (She was way too excited to notice that he obviously was.)

Kitty was searching through a sale rack when she heard a German expletive, followed by her name.

"Die Hölle von mir weg! Kitty! Hilfe!" The voice was distinctly Kurt's. Kitty also heard another voice, angry and harsh, shouting something very unpleasant back. There was a crash.

Kitty dropped what she was doing and rushed out of the store. Outside and nearby, Kitty saw three boys standing in a circle, surrounding Kurt. Kurt was curled up on the ground, hands around his head. Two of the boys were kicking him in the ribs.

"Shut it, mutie!" one of the thugs snarled, kicking him hard in the gut. Kurt cried out, but did nothing to fight back.

A small crowd was forming around the fight. Horrified, Kitty phased her way through the gathering spectators and came up right between two of the boys.

"Leave him along, jerks," she cried out in her most intimidating voice.

One of the boys glared at her.

"Get out of here, bitch," he snapped. "Unless you wanna join your friend over here." He made a gesture to Kurt's limp form.

That was not cool. Nobody touched her friends, nobody got away with hurting them, and nobody called her a bitch and lived to talk about it. A righteous anger built up inside her tiny body, and an instant later, she started releasing it. The boy closest to her got a kick in the thigh. It didn't seem to hurt him much, so she phased her hand through his head and pulled him to the ground. A second kick in the back of the head seemed to do him in. The guy next to him received a dead-on blow in the family jewels. The last guy raised his hands in defeat and scrambled off. His two buddies jumped up and limped off as well. Kitty snorted like an angry bull, momentarily satisfied with herself.

She noticed Kurt again and bent down to his level. Everything seemed to be moving really quickly. _Wow, on an adrenaline buzz are we?_, she thought. Kurt was still curled up in a ball, whimpering quietly. He flinched as Kitty brushed her fingers along his shoulder.

"Kurt?" she asked quietly. "You ok, fuzzy?"

Kurt shivered. "Keety, help me," he whispered, barely audible. Kitty drew closer.

"What's wrong?"

Kurt said nothing. Gingerly, Kitty pulled his hands away from his head and helped him sit up. He was bleeding from the mouth and looked pretty bruised around the chest, but other than that, he seemed fine, physically. His eyes were glazed over and distant.

Kitty led him outside. He sat down along the edge of the building and buried his face in his hands. Kitty sat beside him, not sure what to do. "Kurt, like what's the matter?"

"I'm sorry, Keety. I just…got scared back there. I panicked. I don't know vhy…"

Kitty put a hand on his shoulder. "What scared you?"

"I don't know," Kurt replied quickly and dismissively.

Kitty tugged at one of his hands. "Yes, you do, fuzzy. Out with it. Something's got you scared to death."

Kurt sighed and looked up at Kitty. His eyes were still very distant, but when he spoke, his voice was calm, serious. "Ever since I lived in Germany," he said, "being around people has scared me. People….have not always been kind to me." Kitty nodded, understanding the implications. "I've been beaten up before, lots of times, and I just get scared when I'm when I'm in crowds. I feel like I can't do anything."

Kitty rubbed his arm sympathetically. "Like, I'm sorry I made you come with me, Fuzzy. I didn't know it bothered you."

He nodded. "I didn't fight zose boys because I guess I felt like I did vhen I lived in Germany. I always lost fights back zen. I felt helpless." He sighed again. "Does zat sound stupid, Keety?"

"No, not at all. I totally understand. Listen, fuzzy, I'm really sorry I make you uncomfortable all day. Any way I can make it up to you?"

Kurt smiled a little. "Ice cream?" he suggested.

"Uh, we already got ice cream once today, Kurt," Kitty pointed out.

"And your point is?" Kurt grabbed one of Kitty's numerous bags. (Don't ask where the bags were when she was fighting because I don't know. They magically ended up outside, ok? Ok. Good.)

Kitty shouldered a few bags herself. "Oh. Like, why'd I even ask?"

"Kurt shook his head. "Girls."

oOo

**Yeah, my first finished multi-chapter story. *Pats self on back*. That was fun. If you liked it and want more, review it for meh. Danke.**

**-The Ember Raven**


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